Since South Africa's reintroduction to international sport the Springboks' greatest weapons against the so-called minnows of the rugby world were their physicality and set-piece prowess.
The Bok pack would pound the opposition into submission by driving off the lineout and carrying it up hard down the middle. They would then strike out wide when their opponents started to run out of gas.
But in 2015 it became clear that this plan of pounding the minnows until they break wasn't working anymore. These days the minnows compete just as hard in the physicality department, while the global game has allowed coaches from the dominant rugby nations to earn good money by imparting their wisdom to teams such as Japan and Italy.
The Springboks went into the 2015 Rugby World Cup short of a gallop, with many key players needing game time following a spate of injuries. A match against Japan was seen as the ideal chance to get some minutes into the legs, before tougher assignments later in the tournament.
But a determined Japanese team would shock Heyneke Meyer's side with a gutsy and smart performance. Japan unexpectedly mauled from their lineouts, while they negated the Boks' scrum power with quick channel-one ball. And, with ball in hand, they targeted the wide channels where the Boks were particularly vulnerable.
It turned out to be an Eddie Jones masterclass, and Japan went on to cause one of the great upsets in sport.
However, a little over a year later under new coach Allister Coetzee, the Springboks fell into a similar trap against Italy in Florence.
In the 12 previous Tests against Italy before 2016, the Boks comfortably dispatched the Azzurri with that potent cocktail of power and dominance at set-piece time. The closest the Italians came to beating the Boks was a 16-point margin in Padova in 2014 and Witbank in 2010.
After a draw with the Barbarians and defeat by England, Coetzee was hoping to secure his first away win as coach of the Boks, after also going down to Argentina, Australia and New Zealand in the Rugby Championship.
Despite their miserable start to the tour, they were probably quietly confident of pulling off a win after the Italians lost all their matches in the Six Nations and were hammered 68-10 by New Zealand a week before their Test against the Boks. The Azzurri's only victories in 2016 prior to their match against the Boks were close affairs against the United States and Canada.
Italy, though, saved their best performance of the year - possibly ever -- for 19 November 2016. The day they humbled the Boks in Florence.
The Italians dominated them in the collisions, but the South Africans actually did have their chances in the first half to put the home side away. But because of the South African team's woeful finishing, the Azzurri started to believe that they could actually achieve something special.
The 20-18 defeat has gone down as one of the great days in Italian rugby -- they lost 19-17 to Tonga the next week -- but another chapter in a dark period for the Boks and SA Rugby.
It was believed that Allister Coetzee would get the chop following that result and the defeat by Wales thereafter. The Bok coach survived, but his future is again hanging in the balance ahead of this Saturday's match against Italy in Padova.
Coetzee is under massive pressure, with rumours making the rounds that his time could be up by the time he heads home. While the Boks beat France last weekend, heavy defeats by New Zealand and Ireland seemed to have been the final nail in his coffin.
There are six players in the current Bok touring squad who played against Italy on that fateful November day. Francois Venter, Damian de Allende, Rudy Paige, Lood de Jager, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Tendai Mtawarira all started, while Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff, Trevor Nyakane, Franco Mostert, Oupa Mohoje and Elton Jantjies were on the bench.
These players have a chance to get revenge over a struggling Italy side on Saturday, but a Bok side should never be plotting revenge against an Italy or a Japan. It's evidence of South Africa's demise as a rugby power.
South Africa have a long road ahead to the 2019 World Cup. Teams such as Italy are supposed to be speed bumps, but they have become more like roadblocks. The Boks should navigate past the Italians this time around, but Florence will forever be a watershed moment for Coetzee and his players.
